Content Warning: Article contains graphic details of murder, physical violence and sexual violence.
In May 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promised to hold the country’s first truly democratic elections, but unilaterally postponed them due to COVID-19. In response to this unconstitutional move, the military of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) — which controls Tigray — attacked an Ethiopian military base in Sero in Nov. 2020.
For reference, Ethiopia has nine semi-autonomous zones, including Tigray, that are responsible for implementing economic and social development policies, and maintaining public order; this decentralization provides distinct ethnic groups with more autonomy, but Abiy has been trying to revoke that.
After the TPLF’s response, Abiy immediately cut off phone and internet connections to conceal the campaign of violence and terror against the Tigrayans that was about to ensue. This conflict has persisted for over eight months without much international attention. It is time for the United States (U.S.) to take a stand against the atrocities being committed in Ethiopia.
Soon after the TPLF’s attack, the Ethiopian Federal Forces started indiscriminately shelling the towns of Humera, Mekelle and Shire, striking homes, hospitals, schools and markets. These barrages, which took place within the first nine days of what has now become an almost year-long war, caused 83 deaths and injured over 300 civilians. This alone constitutes a war crime. However, the atrocities of this military operation are far more profound.
The UN defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” and outlines five specific acts. Abiy’s government has committed four of these five acts.
The first is killing members of a specific ethnic group, evidenced by the murder of hundreds of Tigrayans late last year in Axum. Many were lined up and shot in the back, while others were murdered as they left their church or while in a hospital bed.
The second act is causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. Soldiers reportedly told one woman that “you did nothing bad to us… our problem is with your womb… [as] a Tigrayan womb should never give birth.” This statement clearly frames the brutality occurring in Ethiopia as an ethnic one, committed to annihilating the Tigrayans. Many women have been abused so badly that they physically cannot have kids. Health clinics have begun to report on the abhorrent acts of sexual violence against women and girls across Tigray, including widespread rape and sexual violence with the potential to haunt the affected women for the rest of their lives.
These acts also qualify for the third act, “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”
The final qualification of genocide that fits the situation in Tigray is “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” This is emphasized by the Ethiopian government importing only a tenth of the food and medicine that Tigray needs into the region. This concrete action (or lack thereof) by the government has a direct effect on people’s health. Even with the limited information available, it is clear that the Ethiopian government is participating in genocide.
Labelling these events as ‘genocide’ does not have an direct impact beyond framing the issue differently. While rhetorical shifts are important, they change nothing for those experiencing these evil actions. Nevertheless, if the U.S. and the United Nations (U.N.) do not take strong and decisive action, they show that the world will permit genocides, even those committed by non-global powers. Labelling the situation as genocide will also help raise awareness for Ethiopia’s actions, as the term ‘genocide’evokes a certain revulsion that cannot be easily side-stepped. Apart from the most important issue of Tigrayan safety, the precedent that inaction sets in this situation is far more detrimental than the possible ramifications that intervening might contain. The question at hand, then, is how the U.S. should intervene.
I am no policy expert, but I think that the U.S. has recourse to stop the genocide and prevent a significant military operation. Currently, Ethiopia exports $250 million, about one-fourth of its total exports, to the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The U.S. must exclude Ethiopia from the list unless Tigray is fed and Abiy allows full, transparent access to the region. If these sanctions do not change Abiy’s actions, then military intervention should be the U.S.’s next option to relieve the people of Tigray.
